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PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 8:32 am
by graveleye
I'll bite!

My name is Kev and I am addicted to karst :tonguecheek:

I turn 40 in two weeks. I have a beautiful wife that I am undeserving of.

I'm a new caver in a way. I havent been in a wild cave since my early twenties. I went off to play in a rock band and raise a family and unfortunatly got away from caving and the joy of it. Something snapped inside of me recently and told me to come back to it. I had a "friend" who got into caving in the 80s who suddenly got secretive and basically told me I would never "fit in" with the NSS and the caver crowd. I still dont know what he meant or why he said it. I thought it was mean and he isnt my friend anymore, and haha.. he doesnt go caving anymore. Regardless, it left a bad taste in my mouth about the NSS and since then leery of organizations so I never joined any grottos or the NSS (see what one bad egg can do to an organization?) Anyway, I figured to myself that I was getting older, and if I dont get back into caving I might not be able to later. Our time here is pretty short. I hope to one day become more and more involved in the NSS in whatever capacity I can. I like to be involved, and love to meet people and make friends.

I dont have any feathers in my cap really. I dont even know how to rappel... yet. Since I joined the NSS I havent even been in a cave yet. I hope to this month because its eating me alive. There is only my wife and I, and thats not enough to make a proper caving party. All our friends are uninterested. We're always waiting for invitations to go on an adventure though:)

When in high-school, I was heavily involved in the science club as president. The science teacher who sponsered the club was an environmentalist and a caver. She took us to many caves, and a few clean-ups even. Thats where it started.

ok I've bored everyone.. who's next?

:yawn:

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 1:48 pm
by wendy
Hi my name is Wendy and I am a caver, and also a cave diver. I'm 32 years old and live in Florida, where I work in law enforcement.

Actually I started as a cave diver, and now I rarely do that because I am always in the 'dry' caves now. Being in Florida a lot pf people think we don't have dry caves, but we do, lots of them. I have been caving now since 2002 I think. Just a newbie really. Not much vertical down here other than quarry walls, so my vertical expereince is limted to drops/climbs of 70', but the more experience I get the deeper I will go.

Currently I am a member of the Flint River Grotto and the Florida Cave Survey. Been surveying some lately and also getting into photography.

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 2:19 pm
by speloman
My name is Justin I am a caver and I am 23 (turn 23 on the 4th). Vertical preferibly but I ain't picky, any time I can get underground I take it. I am Mobile equipment mechanic at a gold mine in elko working on the big 3 story high trucks. I am a EMT and work on the Mine rescue team. I have been a caver for 10 years but probly only 8 years of activity. Scouting got me into caving. I used to be a bike helemet flashlight weilding spelunker. But after my first trip I liked it and found out there were safer ways to do it, now I am proud to say I am a caver.

I am married with a little one on the way. My wife isn't really a caver but likes tour caves. She don't like hights and most of the caves I go in are on high hill tops. I have mostly been caving in nevada and still havent been to all of them, and have been in a few lava tubes in utah. I am having a hard time finding other cavers in the town I live in but am still talking to people from the old grotto and looking to get with some Utah grottos. I Need to get caving more often but busy work scheduals and training are always in the way. As soon as I get some vacation built up caving I will go. Just need to find cavers. My brother inlaw has been bit but the bug now just to get him some more experiance. I want to go to caves all over I like getting muddy, wet, and cold. love going through tight sqeeezes. Used to drive my mom off the wall because she would cacth me trying to sqeeze through chairs and chimmneying in the hall way. well I will stop boaring you with my life..... NEXT!!!!

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 3:33 pm
by graveleye
I was wondering the same thing... but the barn door opened and we all wandered in :-)

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 3:38 pm
by ian mckenzie
wendy wrote:Hi my name is Wendy and I am a caver
speloman wrote:My name is Justin I am a caver
Sounds like an A.A. meeting...

I am a Canadian and only joined the NSS to get the Convention discount at California, but an administrative mistake by the NSS meant I ended up being a paid member for three years... I belong to the Alberta Speleological Society (my avatar = their logo), which has about eighty members, ten of whom are active. I just turned fifty, and retired, and have been caving for 26 years tho I am starting to slow down. I began caving in the Canadian Rockies, and still do, but have also caved in fifteen other countries, sometimes on expeditions. Caving in the Rockies is unlike TAG to say the least, and I have never caved anywhere that is harder than here at home. I have been married for a dozen years and have a couple of step-kids who are adults now. We live in Calgary, a city of a million people, but we've been renovating a hundred-year-old house in the mountains and plan to move there within a year.

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 3:53 pm
by Sean Ryan
I'm Sean, 30, been a caver for about seven years now. As I joined up with the Northern New Jersey Grotto, their newsletter editor bowed out, so it's hard for me to think of caving in terms other than trips reports and publishable photos.

I work in Manhattan at a trade magazine, and do most of my caving in the northeast. Anything beyond West Virginia is too far to drive for a weekend. Thanks to weeklong events, though, I've taken vacation time and seen Mammoth, central Kentucky, TAG and now Puerto Rico.

I have (accidentally and horrifically) stumbled into the vast world of non-caving caving, the kind where you go to a regional caving event and never find the time to go caving, and then get lassoed to co-run the next regional event, then go to a cleanup of a parking lot outside a cave, then a conservancy meeting, then a cave fundraiser 50 miles from the nearest cave. Dammit all, I'm here to cave! How'd I get stuck doing all of this?

I'm working on a book about Sybil's Cave in Hoboken, which I haven't looked at in way too long. I think once I get going, I should have it in good shape in a matter of weeks, but I just need to light a fire under my butt about it. I can always find a trip to write up or a DVD to watch instead.

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 4:16 pm
by Baazalung
I'm Vlad, 18 (only), have been caving for 5 years, though only 2 years have passed since I've got my "caving permit" (Alpine Speleology Technique level I). I'll be finishing high school in two weeks, afterwards I have to pass a few dull exams, in order to follow a career in Medicine.

During the summer, I always work as a "caving camp animator" -that would be sort of an instructor- in the Carpathians. I basically train kids to do various activities such as: mountain biking, climbing, hiking, trekking, caving, target shooting (bow&arrow, no guns :tonguecheek: ).

I started caving as a child in such camps, when seeing a photo of one of the most beautiful caves in Romania. That's what made me do it. No one took me for sreious, but now, they are happy I am one of them.

BTW, I live in Iasi, the second largest city in Romania, Eastern Europe, West of the Black Sea. That would be 'not that far' from Abkhazia and Krubera (Voronya), or France and Gouffre Mirolda (second largest in the world).

I plan on geting better caving training because I've been invited to explore a few regions this summer and I surely hope I'll get lucky. My dream is finding a "-1000" in Romania. :oops:

PostPosted: Jun 2, 2006 6:08 pm
by ian mckenzie
Baazalung wrote: My dream is finding a "-1000" in Romania.
Mine too!

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 5:17 am
by Baazalung
In Canada I presume... :-)

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 10:19 am
by ian mckenzie
No, I'd love an expedition to eastern Europe.

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 11:09 am
by barcelonacvr
ian mckenzie wrote:
wendy wrote:Hi my name is Wendy and I am a caver
speloman wrote:My name is Justin I am a caver
Sounds like an A.A. meeting...

I am a Canadian and only joined the NSS to get the Convention discount at California, but an administrative mistake by the NSS meant I ended up being a paid member for three years... I belong to the Alberta Speleological Society (my avatar = their logo), which has about eighty members, ten of whom are active. I just turned fifty, and retired, and have been caving for 26 years tho I am starting to slow down. I began caving in the Canadian Rockies, and still do, but have also caved in fifteen other countries, sometimes on expeditions. Caving in the Rockies is unlike TAG to say the least, and I have never caved anywhere that is harder than here at home. I have been married for a dozen years and have a couple of step-kids who are adults now. We live in Calgary, a city of a million people, but we've been renovating a hundred-year-old house in the mountains and plan to move there within a year.



So humble you are!! You omit the fact that your name appears frequently thoughout the history of Canadian caving/exploration and the huge amount of effort you expend to support your fellow cavers.I have learned an immense amount just reading the many articles you have written or have been in. I only hope I can do half of what you have done and do so in such an ethical manner.There was a lot of controversy about Jon Rollins book but like you say due to the conditons ,many would have difficulty just "getting" to the caves. The ASS :tonguecheek: has been instrumental in Canadian exploration and a lot of world class cavers have issued forth from it's realm.!!

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 12:59 pm
by Nico
My real name is Nicasio (nee-cah-see-oh) I'm 21 from NE Mexico close to Monterrey. I started caving at age 12 with some Austin cavers including the now defunct Joe Ivy.
I've been mostly a keyboard caver cause I had nobody to cave with until last year, now I am somewhat active.

If anybody feels like seeing mexican caves let me know I have unrestricted access to a ranch with literally dozens of caves including Pozo de Montemayor deepest cave in NE Mexico and is not far away from the US border :calvin:

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 6:45 pm
by Squirrel Girl
Nico wrote: including Pozo de Montemayor deepest cave in NE Mexico and is not far away from the US border :calvin:
I've been there. It's a cool cave.

"Defunct." Interesting descriptor. Perhaps a useful euphemism.

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 6:59 pm
by Wayne Harrison
You know my name, but I thought I'd tell you a little about me.

I started caving in 1974 after reading "Caves of Colorado" by Lloyd Paris. I called him up and asked how to get started and he directed me to the Colorado Grotto, which was meeting that week. I found the meeting and signed up for a beginner trip to Groaning that weekend, led at Al Williams. I was in a borrowed helmet, light and cave pack and I was hooked! Groaning remains one of my favorite caves.

My biggest regret is not going on a 1986 dig in New Mexico because I thought it was too far to drive just to dig. It turned out to be Lechuguilla. :doh:

I don't do vertical, but did take the vertical workshop at the '05 convention. I mostly lead beginner trips now, to help newbies get into the sport.

I love being underground and in the peace and quiet of a cave and knowing that time stands still as I explore new (to me) passages.

I'm a journalist by trade, having been in the "biddnis" for 40 years: radio, newspaper, television and now Internet.

PostPosted: Jun 3, 2006 8:34 pm
by paoconnell
I'm Pat O'Connell
I've been caving since the mid-60s. I started caving because of trips as a kid to various commercial caves in the early 60s, including Mammoth Cave and Wyandotte, and always wondered where the dark passages went. Indiana has few places that could be called wilderness, but most of them are underground.

Caving was with Explorer Scouts at first. I joined Central Indiana Grotto around 1967, Purdue Outing Club in 1968, and the NSS in 1972. Eventually I became an NSS Life Member.

I've been a member of several other grottoes across the country, but have caved and mapped mostly in New Mexico since 1985.